Low Feritin

[nogin]

been feeling tired and got heart pulpatations, so went to doctors done blood test and come back low feritin levels 8 and gave me iron tablets , this happened back in october last year put down to heavy periods , my cycle is every 25 days and quite heavy , has anyone els had the same ?
had full blood count that was ok and vit B12 was fine .
worried incase could be something els

Did your ferritin improve after taking iron in Oct last year?

I was told if my ferritin was under 20 I would have to have an iron drip

Has your GP referred you for further investigations?

I felt much better last time and yes did go up to 10 i think.
am doing to ring today to ask more questions , how are you now . did you have same symptoms as me ?

I have B12 iron deficiency so have the B12 jabs, take iron etc

Morning , the doc said by B12 was ok , and i have got iron tabs for 1 month , do you have to take iron tabs always now , and do you feel better that you do ?
Its a horrid feeling this palputations and brethlessness especially as with 2 children not much time for rest .

going to take children to school now and then see if i can see my doctor to ask questions .

Hello nogin - my ferritin count is (was?) 8 and I've been on iron tablets for the last couple of weeks. I have v heavy periods, and I'm mainly vegetarian, and I also have/had (mild) crohn's disease (inflamed bowel).

Luckily I didn't really have any bothersome symptoms of anaemia...I do feel a bit tired, but put that down to two wakeful toddlers . I also have heart palpitations every now and then.

I also had an extremely low folic count by the way (another B vit).

The doc didn't suggest that there might be anything sinister going on, and I'm pretty sure my counts will be back up when I have a follow up blood test.

I'm the world's worst health worrier, but I'm really not too bothered by this. Hope you feel somewhat reassured by that

Hi Adamant. thankyou for your input which is very helpfull, Funny you should mention crohns disease , i have for the last year had trouble with my bowels , and have had tests last year ie , a sample checked out ,which came back normal . then only last week , only because i was still worried something wasnt right, but my doctor said it was IBS , i had blood tests done for any inflormation and anything els synister , all came back ok and just low ferritin , have got iron pills for one month, im going back to doc on wed just for a chat as i still worry ,i suffer from health anxiety and get things going round in my head and the only way to feel less anxious is to see the doctor for reasurance .

I had low ferritin levels most likely due to heavy periods. As well as iron my GP prescribed Tranexamic Acid which reduces the amount of bleeding you have at period time. I found it excellent. Less bleeding, less anaemia.

Thanks mears will mention this to doc, nice to know im not the only one , once the iron pills kick in im sure i will feel alot better. i did have very heavy periods end of last year so decided to have my coil removed which made a big differance , but last p was a bit heavy then before and had blood test whils got my period so maybe that didnt help .my cycle is every 25 days to so no sooner my energy gets up again the next p has arrived ,

AdamAnt if your there , when you mentioned crohns disease .what were your symptoms ? I had a bad tummy bug from children oct 2006, and since then my BM havent been the same , 2007 had stool samples tested came back normal doc said takes time for gut to heel after bug etc
Throughout the year still the same but no worse , see doc about other things as i worry about any health things , she said was IBS , then oct 2007 went to docs because felt tired pullpitations and dizzyness , did blood test low iron , felt 100 times better , now this year feel tired again pulpitations , had lots of blood test done again and still BM the same doc said again IBS, but as i worry said to do blood tst for inflamation and synister things, to put my mind at rest all came back ok , just low feritin,
Im still worried incase something is wrong , and wondered if crohns could have same symptoms , or am i just a hypercondriact and have IBS and should stop worrying Got appt with doc on wednesday so going to write this down and ask for advice , just so worried could be something bad....

nogin - My original diagnosis took several years. I had very severe upper abdominal pain, I couldn't manage to eat more than a few mouthfuls of food, I became very underweight and anaemic, and my hair started falling out. My poos were not really affected.

However, these symptoms were not entirely typical of the disease.

I'm pretty sure that the usual symptoms are:

Abdominal pain (usually lower right)
Diarrhoea
Blood in poo (this in particular is a bit of a red flag for Crohn's disease and other nasties, and this happened when I had a mild flare up recently)
Weight loss
Anaemia
Inflammation markers on a blood test

The fact that your bloods came back without signs of inflammation is a very good thing, and you should be reassured by that

Also, IBS can be very uncomfortable and unpleasant, and you shouldn't feel bad about pushing for some sort of treatment if you are diagnosed with it.

Thanks Adam Ant- Dont think its crohns then ,
Im such a worrier and im sure this is not helping matters but cant help the way i am , im thinking the 2 things must linked IBS soft stools (no pain though ) low, feritin must be connected in some way , maybe because i have BM everyday im not absorbing enough iron, or god i dont know , all i do know is i cant stop thinking bad thoughts .......thinking all sorts Bowel C . internal Bleeding you name it im thinking it ...will go to doc tomorrow and boar him im sure you are , sorry and thanks for listen to me go on ..

BM every day is normal

Internal bleeding - you'd have unusual-looking poos (either black or red)

Bowel cancer - unlikely with only the symptoms you've mentioned so far.

But obviously you're doing the right thing by getting it all checked out.

Thanks for that will with doc in morning.
It helps talking my worries through so thankyou .
will let you know how it goes .

Well just got back from doctors....Saw another doctor today and he has a totally differant view , at last i do think somthin is going to be done ......
Went through all my worries and concerns , he said im not anemic ,but i do have low iron stores which indicates either im loosing to much blood every month in my period , or im unable to store iron through diet !
I stressed i do have healthy diet but my periods have been quite heavy ,
blood count all normal /red and white cells normal,B12 and folic /normal.
I also said about my BM again and is there is a connection with the 2 and he said yes there could be especially if your not absorbing iron .
Once iv finished these iron tablets im booked in for blood tests to see if levels have gone up , and to check Zinc /Magnesium and iron binding copacity , and for ceiliac .
Has anyone had similar problems ?
I now feel worried but pleased in some ways as at last somethings being done .
Thanks for listening to me go on again !

Can low iron make you feel this bad and can being unable to absorb iron make my BM like they are ? i know im going to spend the next 3 weeks in such a state worrying ,does anyone have advice or am i worrying unnesseserily (cant spell ) going away for 2 weeks with children dont wnat to be a total reck in front of them

nogin - I'm not sure what to say. You're obviously really concerned about it, BUT the fact that your bloods are normal other than low ferritin, is a Very Good Thing.

I'm not sure why he said you're not anaemic even though you have low iron stores . I thought low iron in blood = a form of anaemia, but could be wrong.

Re: the possible connection between loose BMs and low ferritin, I'm guessing that coeliac could cause both problems. If you do have coelaic, it's a faff but not the end of the world.

It might also be worth asking about thyroid problems (although you may have been tested for thyroid levels already), as I think this can cause symptoms similar to yours (and it's not really anything to freak out about).

Anyway, please don't let it wreck your holiday. If I had your symptoms I wouldn't be overly concerned (and I'm a terrible hypochondriach!)

Thanks Adam Ant , your very kind .
I must stop thinking negative thoughts , iv just googled iron absorbtion ect and frightned the life out of my self thinking i would get some positive feed back and well now think iv got all sorts .......
Do you have to have your levels checked out once you finish your iron pills ?

Yes I will have to.

STEP AWAY FROM THE GOOGLE SEARCH BAR

will do
I think as always its the not knowing that is freaking me out and then i go round and round in my head and diagnose myself into a right state must stop this to ....how are you feeling now ? are tablets starting to help ?

Well nogin, tbh I didn't feel all that bad in the first place. I have a 3 yr old and an 18 month old, so it's difficult distinguishing iron-deficiency tiredness from normal being-run-ragged tiredness lol. I think I'm having fewer palpitations though.

Ah did you have blood test for something els and found that out ? , for me its the palpitations that are/ were the thing that i hate can come on at any time and for no reason , (not all day but )sometime evon when im relaxed in bed watching TV they happen its like a flutter of adrenalin and then goes , very strange but into day 5 of tablets and think there easing off a bit . I have 2 children 5 and 7 ,

About the thyroid?

I haven't had any tests...I've just spent waaaaaaaay too much time googling health problems

me to , the doc did check my thyroid this time last year and was ok then ,.

I must stay away from google to ....

what a rotten night that was mind working overtime convinced i have everything ..................so worried should i go back to doc ?
he thinks im nuts im sure!